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The New Zealand earthquake caused road damage and wall collapses in parts of the city of 400,000, and authorities said looters had broken into some damaged shops, according to the Associated Press.

No tsunami alert was issued and there were no reports of injuries, though many residents were in a panic following the 4:35 a.m. temblor, Christchurch resident Angela Morgan told the AP. (See photos from past earthquakes.)

"Roads have subsided where water mains have broken and a lot of people evacuated in panic from seaside areas for fear of a tsunami," she said. "There is quite significant damage, really, with reports that some people were trapped in damaged houses."

Photograph by David Alexander, NZPA/AP

Surveying the Damage

Dean Marshall, left, and Shaun Stockman crouch outside their damaged building in Christchurch, New Zealand, on September 4.

Many suburban dwellers near the earthquake's epicenter, which was 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of Christchurch, described violent jolts.

"I was awake to go to work and then just heard this massive noise and boom—it was like the house got hit," resident Kevin O'Hanlon told AP.

"It just started shaking. I've never felt anything like it."

Photograph by David Alexander, NZPA/AP

Blocked Street

A police officer stands on a rubble-strewn street cordoned off after the New Zealand earthquake on September 4.

New Zealand sits in a geologially active zone of the Pacific Ocean known as the Ring of Fire, where several tectonic plates collide.

The island country normally experiences up to 15,000 earthquakes a year, according to GNS Science, a New Zealand government-owned research organization. About 100 to 150 quakes are big enough to be felt.

Photograph by David Alexander, NZPA/AP

Gutted Building

People stand in front of a building gutted by the New Zealand earthquake on September 4.